Putin falsely equates Russian soldiers waging war in Ukraine to Red Army fight against Nazis

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on May 9. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his Victory Day speech Tuesday by equating the efforts of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, falsely, to Soviet forces who helped defeat the Nazis in World War II.

Putin has often invoked the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying that the offensive is aimed at "denazifying" the nation -- ignoring the fact that President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and lost relatives in the holocaust.

“Today here today, participants of the special military operation they are professional soldiers and those who have come to the ranks of the army as part of the partial mobilization (…) I w

elcome you friends,” Putin said.“During the Great Patriotic War, our heroic ancestors proved that there is nothing mightier and stronger than our unity."

Some analysts say the Russian leader is committing some of the same blunders that doomed Germany’s 1941 invasion of the USSR — while using “Hitler-like tricks and tactics” to justify his brutality.